In Japan, More Xbox 360 Storage Than Necessary

By  |  Monday, February 1, 2010 at 2:03 pm

It’s a time-honored geek tradition to lust after gadgets released in Japan, but I wouldn’t waste any desire on Microsoft’s 250 GB Xbox 360 hard drive.

The drive will be sold as a standalone product in Japan starting March 11 for roughly $170, according to this Impress press release. Stateside, Microsoft currently sells a 120 GB hard drive for $150.

Microsoft could bring the 250 GB drive to western markets soon, but not necessarily as a standalone product. Last month, Kotaku reported that the Xbox 360 Elite, which includes a 120 GB drive, was out of stock at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Gamestop. This suggests that Microsoft is clearing out inventory to make room for Xbox 360s with bigger drives.

I could see why Microsoft would want to pack 250 GB hard drives into its consoles. The basic Playstation 3 slim includes a 120 GB drive, so Microsoft would have one more selling point for the Xbox 360. A standalone drive could theoretically follow, just to even things out.

But to the original point, a 250 GB HDD isn’t necessary, especially if you’ve already got a 120 GB drive. So much of the Xbox 360 is streaming, including 1080p videos in the Zune Marketplace, Netflix Instant Watch movies, Last.fm music and your PC’s entire music and video library. I’ll admit that my Xbox 360’s 20 GB drive feels cramped (though I still have about 5 GB left), but latecomers who got a 60 GB or 120 GB drive won’t have that problem.

Extra storage is best-suited for people who install lots of games to the hard drive and never uninstall them, download insane amounts of Xbox Live Arcade or On Demand games and prefer to put all their music and movies directly on the console. If all three scenarios don’t apply, I imagine 120 GB will be enough, especially given the price of Xbox 360 hard drives as a whole.

 
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2 Comments For This Post

  1. Tech Says:
    February 1st, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    What a waste. I guess they ran out of ideas to enhance the 360.

  2. StudleyUK Says:
    February 2nd, 2010 at 7:55 am

    Shocking revelation: People who use less hard drive space will find less need for a bigger hard drive.

    My 120GB is full, and there’s not exactly THAT much stuff on there. A handful of demos, a bagful of Arcade games, and maybe 6-7 installed games to keep the drive noise to a minimum. The only thing holding me back is Microsoft’s horrendous hard drive upgrade/transfer policy, requiring a one-time-use proprietory cable, and mixed messages about whether you can transfer content more than once (I’ve already transferred from 20GB to 120GB, it’s unclear whether their system will let me transfer 120GB to 250GB as well)

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